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LETTER FROM MAJOR GEN. N: P. BANKS. 



Hon. JAMES H. LANE, Senator of Kansas : 

Sir — The earnest and generous supporc that you voluntarily and unexpectedly 
rendered the representatives of Louisiana in the National Convention at Baltimore, 
gave to her loyal people unalloyed satisfaction. Whenever opportunity offers it will 
be acknowledged by them with gratitude. 

I recall, with pleasure, our personal and political association as members of the 33d 
Congre.<'S, when we sustained, at the opening of the revolution, as now, at its close, the 
same general principles of public policy. 

You have passed the fiery ordeal involved in the organization of civil government 
amid the contests of civil war, and in the presence of revolution, and know the perils 
as well as the difficulties of this duty. Such considerations lead me to ask your attention 
to some thoughts connected with public matters in this State affecting its relations 
with the Government and people. My oflBcial connection with the military and civils 
affairs of the State, for nearly two years^ will, I trust, be a sufficient apology for this 
course. 

Let me assure you that your faith in the people, without which public service is 
impotent for good, has not been, in this instance, misplaced. The loyal people of 
Louisiana merit, in an eminent degree, the generous confidence and support of the 
Government and people of the United States. 

Until recently I have not had an opportunity to examine the bill'passed at the 
late session of Congress, providing for the reconstruction of Government in rebel 
States. 

The proclamation of the President, and the protest of the Hon. Messrs. Wade and 
Davis relating to this measure, attracted general attention here. It was not generally 
understood how far, or in what respect the course of public events in Louisiana was in 
conflict with the plan proposed by Congress 

It was perfectly apparent from the character of the protest, that its authors but 
imperfectly understood the condition of things, and that their informant, whoever he 
may have been, or from whatever source he may have received his information, had 
misled them. What influence this may have had upon the President or the people it is 
not in my power, nor within my province to determine. But whatever impression has 
been made will be eradicated, I am certain, by a knowledge of the facts. 

The traditions of Congress, as well as my personal connection with its history, 
lead me to regard with the highest respect its opinions, and to render to its legislation 
the most unreserved and loyal obedience and support. I am sure that the people here 
entertain the same patriotic sentiment. Nothing further from their purpose or desire 






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can be iuiH^^incd than the idea that they would encourage or avail themselves of a 
temporary diflforenco of opinion between the Executive and Legislative branches of the 
Government, to foster their interests or establish their power. In this feeling, which I 
know to be honest and general, I concur to the fullest extent. 

■ No attention was given to the provisions of the bill for reconstruction of 
government in seceding States, and but little interest was manifested in legislation on 
that subject, because it was known that no law would be enacted by any Congress not wed- 
ded to the principles of secession, or not inflexibly opposed to the return of erring States 
to the Union, to which Louisiana could not and would not instantly and gladly assent. 

The proclamation of the President and the jirotest of the honorable chairmen of 
the committees of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively on that subject, 
were received and read with astonishment. 

It was supposed, from the intensity of the discussion and the asperity of the .illusions 
to the State of Louisiana, that some now and important views, deemed by Congress 
indispensable to the reconstruction ol the Union, bad been intentionally disregarded. 

You will imagine my surprise when I found, upon an attentive perusal of the bill, 
that here, at least, every material provision had been anticipated, every substantial 
guarantee had been recognized and established If the measure had been an approving 
and critical review of constitutional proceedings here, it would require no material 
change in legislation on the one hand, or of the constitutional reconstruction on the 
other, to harmonize the proposition with the result. I fell assured that the doubts of 
the President, the members of Congress and the people, will be in a great degree 
removed by a correct report of the actual situation. 

There are many subjects embodied in the protest, to which I need not refer, interest- 
ing to the people of Louisiana as well as to other citizens of the United States 

The right i^f the President to withhold his approval of measures initiated by 
Congress, needs no assertion. It has been too often exercised and too strongly and 
boldly vindicated by the Executive and the people to make it necessary to volunteer a 
word in its defence And yet it is a subject that cannot be too much or too carefully 
considered, because it involves the perfection of our (i()vernment in theory, and its 
success in practice. The Government carefully represents in its diflferent branches all 
the material elements of public power 

The House represents local pojnilnr opinion, modified or controlled by local pre- 
judices, passions, interests. The sudden neighborhood pulsations, whether excited by 
social, moral or political ideas, affect the representative tone, through the frequency of 
elections, in proportion to their intensity or extent The Senate represents public 
opinion through the agency of States. The president is the solo direct representative 
of the whole people An intermediate constitutional barrier, intended probably to 
separate somewhat the President from the people, in the form of electors, has been 
abandoned, except in form, by universal consent The honest sentiment of the vicin- 
age deemed so important by Saxon legislators, of corporate or aristocratic interests, and 
of pure, undefiled democracy, are thus fully represented. The union of these diverse 
political elements give peace, prosperity and power to the American people. The dissent 
of one defers, but does not defeat any measure. We sometimes have too much legisla- 
tion, rarely too little. We lose nothing by delay where ultimate harmony is possible. 
"Le mondc il est pour la phUgmatique," in a maxim of wisdom fhe universe is the 
patrimonj' of patient men. 

Neither do I see substantial cause of alarm in the suggestion of the President, that 
ho will follow, in part, the opinions of Congress, expressed in a measure which, failing 
to receive his approval, does not become a law. The President has civil and military 
functions. He is invested with constitutional powers, pertinent to the conditions of 



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peace and war. No declaration of war can bo made without consent of Congress, but 
once waged by its order, it cannot restrict the powers of the President as commander- 
in-chief. 

The recognition of any of these powers in a bill of ^iidsi civil nature, does not 
confer them, nor if it fails, does it defeat them. In one case he exercises a recognized 
power ; in the other, it is a reversion consequent upon the military situation. The 
initiation of measures has been regarded as an affair of insignificant import throughout 
our constitutional history, where the concurrent right of assent or dissent to the le- 
gislation which give them constitutional and permanent validity, is unimpaired. No 
material power is conferred upon the President by the bill which he does not derive 
from the nature of his office and the necessities of the country. Why, then, charge 
him "with grave executive usurpation" in the contemplated exercise of power which 
was recognized but not conferred by the measure in question. 

It is a matter of grateful reflection to us, however, that the discussion has no 
relation to the affairs of Louisiana. Whether the legislation of Congress or the 
instructions of the President as commander-in chief, or both together, are to be law, is 
immaterial to her. She has answered the substantial requisitions of either and both. 
She has done much more than has been demanded, and nothing material has been 
omitted. Her standard has been higher and purer than that of Congress or the Executive, 
because she alone has been conscious of the extent of her capacity, which is the measure 
of her action, but not of her loyal and patriotic aspirations. Mark how completely her 
action corresponds to the requisitions of Congress ! 

The ophite male citizens as described in the bill, were enrolled for military service 

to the number of- thousand in the most populous parishes, preparatory to 

draft in 1863. Measures have been taken to renew and complete the enrollment in all 
parishes. 

Every person enrolled who has taken the oath, has been invited to participate in 
the election of delegates to a ("onstitutional Convention. 

Nine thousand nine hundred and fourteen loyal voters have been registered under 
the iron-clad oath in the Parish of Orleans alone, and there are from 15,000 to 18,000 
voters registered in the State as subscribers to the same oath on the parish poll books. 

Delegates to the Convention were apportioned to "the white male population," 
not of enrolled electors merely, but of the whole State ; and the number fixed as pre- 
scribed by the Constitution and laws ol the State, "applicable to legislative assemblies." 

Thirty daj»^ notice was given of elections. 

Commissioners of ('Jleclion have been appointed "according to the laws and usage 
of the State." 

The delegates were chosen by "white male citizens of the United States," 21 years 
of age, who had "'the qualifications required by law." 

Soldiers who had enlisted in the army from this State were permitted to vote at 
the polls opened at their respective commands by regularly appointed commissioners 
of election, not by ofticeis, where it was impossible for them to vote in established le^al 
precincts. 

So far as it is known, no person who has held ofiiee under the Confederate 
Government, or who has borne arms against the United States, has participated in 
these elections. 

The'oy.lh of allegiance prescribed by the act of Congress of 1862, or the "iron 
clad" oath of the President's proclamation of December 8, 186.S, have been administered 
to every voter. In most cases both have been administered. 

The poll books at all elective precincts, have been or will be deposited with the 
Provisional Governor of the State. 



The Constitution declares tlic abolition of slavery, prohibits involuntary 
servitude except for crime, and interdicts forever the recognition of property in man. 
It makes all men equal before the law. It declares that no liability, either State, 
parochial or municipal shall exist for 'any debt contracted for on the interest of the 
rebels against the Government of the United States. 

The only provision of the bill not embodied in the Constitution is that which 
denies the elective franchise to men who have borne arms against the United States. 
The Convention would have readily adopted this provision ; but, although the State 
under the Constitution establishes the conditions of suffrage even for members of 
Congress, it was impracticable for Louisiana to overthrow the policy of the General 
Government in this respect. The principal officer of the Treasury in New Orleans 
held a commission in the rebel army, and the quartermaster ana the chiefs of other 
departmen's have been ordered to employ in public service deserters from the enemy, 
A State cannot well deny the right of suffrage to high and permanent civil officers of 
the Government. The general policy on this subject ought to be established by the 
Government, without regard to the action of separate States. It is a question incident 
to peace and war. 

Thus all the substantive, material conditions of the bill passed by the two Houses 
of Congress have been anticipated and answered in the elections held in Louisiana. 
So far as the people are concerned nothing has been omitted, required by Congress, 
material to the purity of elections, the loyalty of the people, or the dignity of the Gov 
ernment they have organized. In many respects, the results of the popular action have 
been of a higher character, and have given guaranties of security far beyond those 
required by Congress. As, for instance, the Provisional Governor authorized by the 
bill to be appointed by the President, has not only been designated and commissioned 
by him, but has also received the formal approval of the people expressed at a regular 
election by a large majority of loyal voters 

There are other considerations not appertaining to the government of the State, 
but relative to the Government of the United States not unworthy consideration, and 
which may or may not be applied to Louisiana when she asks recognition as one of 
the States of the Union. 

The bill provides that upon the adoption of a Constitution, it shall bo transmitted 
to the President of the United States, and after it has received the assent of Congress, 
an election of Representatives and Senators may be ordered. This is a question of 
time, not of principle, and is, therefore, immaterial, except as a form of proceeding. But 
the doctrine asserted, is one of vital consequence to the people and Government. 

The creation or admission of a State requires : 1st, the consent of the people of 
the State proposed formally expressed ; 2d, that to the Executive department ; 3d, of 
the Senate; and 4th, of the House of Representatives. No State can be created or 
admitted to the Union without the independant consent of each one of these branches 
of government. By the Constitution, the consent of each must be independent of the 
action of others. Thus, to constitute a State, the people must consent to perform 
certain duties incumbent upon citizens of the United States, and to recognize the Con- 
stitution and laws made in pursuance thereof. The President must appoint, subject 
to certain conditions. Federal officers to administer the laws, and enforce the rights of 
the Central Government within that State. The Senate of the United States has the 
right by the Constitution, independant of all other powers of the Government, to 
decide whether it will or will not receive representatives of the State as members of 
the Senate. The House of Representatives, by the same high authority, has the same 
high privilege. The wisdom of the^framers of the Constitution is seen more clearly in 
this than in any other provision which it contains. It shows n Union founded upon 



such general concurrence as to make it impossible that it shall be severed ; and the 
strongest argument against secession, for the suppression of which the armies of the 
United States are now contending, is found in the fact that the Union formed by the 
consent of the people, the Executive and Representative departments of the Federal Gov- 
vernment, cannot be sundered except by the separate and absolute consent of each one 
of these parties. It is aright which the Constitution gives to each, and of which they 
can never be deprived. Neither party can under any circumstances surrender or 
impair the power which is conferred upon it by the Constitution. 

It is true that Congress has often passed laws instructing the people of a Territory 
as to the measures proper for the initiation of a government, but it has no power to 
compel their acceptance. It may, by coercive measures, destroy and replace such 
people, but it must still leave them the right of assent or dissent to such measures. 
This is a question of great magnitude, which must be met at a day not distant. 

To surrender this on the part of any one of these parties would be an act of 
unavailing imbecile character, deserving the reprobation of Government and people. 
Inasmuch as those powers cannot be disregarded, impaired or surrendered, it is equally 
clear that tliey cannot be delegated : that no exterior influence or power can be 
acknowledged which assumes to control any one of these separaie and independent 
branches of the (Jovernment in the exercise of the functions conferred upon it by the 
Constitution. Any act of Congress, therefore, which undertakes to declare in what 
manner the people of a State shall apply ; in what form, or whether or not the President 
shall receive and assent to the application of the State, whether the Senate shall receive 
or reject, or the House of Representatives admit or exclude persons claiming represen- 
tative power in the Government, is an invasion of the Constitutional rights of these 
independent, separate powers, which can never be justified or defended 

It is impossible that the views expressed by Congress should be received otherwise 
than with the most profound respect, especially by the officers of the various Executive 
and Judicial Departments of the Government, so far as they may be consistent with 
the rights, opinions, interests and liberties of the people or the constitutional powers 
of the Government. Wherever they are known they will be recognized and obeyed as 
law. The people often bow to that which is not law because it ought to be law. This 
is Divine Wisdom. The very existences of our Government depends upon the 
recognition of the paramount respect due to the recommendations of the different 
departments of the Government. But to assert that Congress has the power, with or 
without the consent of the President, to pass an act which shall strip these co-ordinate 
branches of the independent powers conferred upon them by the Constitution, and 
which would be fatal to the independence or the perpetuity of the Government itself, is 
an error so glaring, and so pregnant with permanent public injury that it is impossible 
to believe it would receive the countenance or support of any considerable portion of 
the people. 

This must be the case even where a ( ongress passes an act with a view to the 
momentary limitation of its own powers simply. How much greater force must it have — 
how much more ponderous the objection — when it is incident and applied to an act of 
Congress, intended to restrict and limit the irrepealable constitutional power of its 
successors, or the co-ordinate branches of the Government. Nothing is more true, 
nothing connected with the interests of the Government more important than that 
Congress in the creation or admission of States cannot bind its successors. It can 
neither surrender nor assume powers. The very instant that the Senate or the House 
concurs in a measure of limitation, restriction or surrender, the successor of each 
member will not only be entirely free to disregard the obligation imposed by the 
statute, but the very members voting for it, will be at liberty instantaneously to dis- 



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regard its provisions, or assort the opposite of its doctrinos. Anj' legislation of this 
character must be momentary changing. It cannot bo permanent. The concurrence 
of the President would rot change its character. It is not in human power without 
the organic law to give to such a measure, in a parliamentary sense, the dignity and 
authority of ' an act." It is an opinion of high and paramount import, but not "an 
act." If it had been invested with the forms of law by the approval of the President, 
the instant a State applies for admission, or claimants for representative honors 
stand at the bar of Senate or House, each body will be absolved from any obligation 
imposed by the law and compelled by the oaths of its members to follow the Consti- 
tution, which makes each House theexclusive and independentjudge of thequnli'^cntinu 
of its own members. 

Let the boundaries of power be preserved! The rights of persons, the peace of 
neighborhoods, the permanency of governments — all that Saxon civilization identifies 
with equality, justice and honor depends upon the observance of metes and bounds, 
the religious preservation of the monuments of the progress of nations. Words of purer 
wisdom never fell from executive lips than those contained in the declaration that the 
President is unwilling to be "inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration." 
That guarantees absolute and certain for the peace of the country and the liberty of all 
its people: that indemnity for the past and security for the future should be demanded, 
is wise and just. Such demand ought never to be waived ; but the time, the method, 
the agents, the circumstances, that may attend the great consummation ; the localities 
where action should be hastened and where it should he repressed, are topics which 
may wisely be left to the peculiar atmosphere of States, the softening effects of time, 
the necessities of the people, the potent influence of the recreated Union and the 
beneficent and healing power of the providence of God. It is the supererogation of 
wisdom to confound the material with the immaterial — to stake the success of that 
which is vital and necessary upon the chances attending that which is unreal and 
transitory. 

POPULATION AND VOTEH.S. 

The statement made that Louisiana does not control half the population or half 
the territory of the State, is very far from the truth. That a large portion of the State 
is not occupied by the Government is correct; but it is equally true that a large portion 
is occupied by nobody else. A material part of the territory is to this day unoccupied 
either by the Union or rebel forces. But it is unjust to say that, with the exception 
ofasmall and distant portion of the State, it is beyond the control of the Government. 
Occupation and control are essentially different things. Occupation is the work of the 
people ; control is the work of the army. 

If it be an assertion, intended for history as well as legislation, that the loyal people 
of Louisiana are incapable of maintaining their authority throughoui the State or 
against the forces of the enemy, secret or public, within her lines, it should be met l>y 
stern and unqualified denial. 

Nearly ten thousand white troops and fifteen thoi snnd colored soldiers have been 
enlisted here in the armie.^ of the Union. Thej' aio among the best men of the service. 
Every battle-field, from the Rio Grande to Port Hudson and Florida, has been honored 
by th.ir valor, and hallowed by their blood. Against domestic foes Louisiana is able, 
unaided, to vindicate her rights througnout her territory. Against the concentrated 
armies of other States, she requires, as others do, the support of her loyal sister 
States. 

It is not territory, however, but the people, that constitute a State. It ^ould be 
impossible to commit a greater error than to assume, as do the .authors of this address. 



that the "eleven parishes we substantially held," at the late elections, "had 233,185 
inhabitants, and the residue of the State, not held by us, had 575,617." It is 
incredible that such au assumption should be made, of that even "the gentleman 
entitled to entire confidence," who has given so much information in relation to the 
ailairs of Louisiana, should have supposed the population to be the same as that 
existing at the opening of the war. Yet this extraordinary error appears in the 
quotation cited above. The inevitable result of war is the destruction of population. 
None that the world ever witnessed has been more prolific of blood than this in which 
we are now engaged. Prussia lost in her seven years war ten per cent of her entire 
population, counting the casualties of war alone. This is true of a population which 
remained in the kingdom when it did not find bloody graves in battle. The destruction 
of life in our armies, North and South, is already greater than that of Prussia. The 
Southern States, in addition to the decimations of battle, have sustained equal or 
greater losses by exile or removal. The Secretary of State for the rebel Government, 
stated in the presence of Mr. Davis, President of the Confederacy, in reference to the 
losses already sustained, that "they had/oin- millions of people left." 

No State has suffered greater losses in population than Louisiana. From forty- 
two to forty-five thousand able-bodied men have enlisted in the rebel army, the 
remnant of which is in other States. As many negroes accompanied the army, or fled 
with their owners, to surrounding States or to Europe. Death in every form has been 
busy with her people. Of 331,726 slaves in 1860, nearly one-quarter have died or left 
the State. The mortality of the black population in the commencement of the struggle 
until furnished with employment and comfortable homes, was frightful. It is doubtful 
if any people in any age over sustained such losses from such causes. Including 
enlistments, deaths, exile and removal to other Southern States, to the North and to 
Europe, the reduction of the white population is nearly equal to the loss among the 
blacks. Of 808,000 whites and blacks in 1860, there are now not more than 451,000 
within the State, two-thirds of whom are within the lines of our army. Almost the 
entire negro population, not only of Northern Louisiana, but of the surrounding States, 
andnumerous white families, have taken refuge here. The population of New Orleans, 
from this cause, is larger now than ever before, while many other parishes have been 
nearly depopulated. A gentleman twenty years a citizen of Louisiana, writes me under 
date of the 13th instant, that of twelve hundred voters— the largest number ever voting 
in his parish — ten full companies had been sent into the rebel army from that parish, 
and that every other able-bodied man of the parish was either in the Union army, a 
refugee, or resident within the Union lines. "I recently travelled through Catahoula," 
he says, "and found it almost depopulated." This will account for the paucity of our 
vote. "Incredible as it may appear, I doubt if au election could have been held in the 
usual manner it could have given a larger vote." Other parishes in that part of the 
State have suffered equal loss. The most perfidious revolt, the most causeless war of 
human history, has thus already been followed by unparalleled retribution ! How 
unjust to the people, how unwise in legislation, how ineffably base, in the impostor, 
whoever he may be, to represent or assume that the population of these parishes is 
that of 1860 ! 

Is it possible, in the presence of such facts, with the terrible results of nearly four 
years war before your eyes, that it can be asserted as a condition of the rf construction 
of State governments, that the population of the State remain «, and must be esti- 
mated, as before the war? Or that parishes which have been overrun six times by the 
Union and rebel armies within a year and a half, are to be estimated upon the census 
of 1860? What is the present population of Narthern Virginia ? Let those answer 



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who have witnessed the devastation of the Rappahanuuok and Shenandoah Valleys, or 
the mountain rcfjious of the Upper Potomac ! 

Considering the drain of able-bodied men by the army, most of whom were 
politicians, and the large number of Creoles who never claimed citiEenship, though 
natives of the soil, it is probable that the number qualified to vote by the laws of the 
State, all told, is not over 25,000. 

Of these, from fifteen to seventeen thousand are registered loyal voters within the 
lines of the army, all of whom have taken the iron-clad oath, many of them in addition 
to the oath prescribed by the act of Congress ! Nino thousand nine hundred and four- 
teen loyal voters are registered, with name and residence, in the Parish of Orleans 
alone. 

The highest vote in New Orleans, in ten years, with the gigantic frauds of which 
there is record proof, was 9498, and the average vote in the same period numbers 
7565. Between eleven and twelve thousand citizens voted at the election of the 22d of 
February, and over nine thousand on the ratification of the constitution, which received 
a maiority of 5379 votes. Probably ten thousand different men voted at this election, 
which, except in two districts, was without contest I 

The vote of the 22d of February was 11,400. The vote for Governor in the same 
parishes now within our linos has ranged for the last ten years from fifteen to sixteen 
thousand. In 1863 it was 15,760. In 1859 it was 16,143. In 1860, when the tocsin 
of revolution and civil war was heard throughout the land, the aggregate vote for 
Lincoln, Douglas, Bell and Breckinridge, was but 21,000. 

These parishes have suffered in population from the war, with others ; and yet, as 
I have said, from 15,000 to 17,000 voters are now registered, and 11,400 have been 
polled in the organization of the State Government. Extraordinary circumstances 
only have prevented the full number being given. 

The organization of the Government has been opposed hy a powerful party in 
the North. The General Government advised but did not assist in this work. Military 
men as a general rule rely more upon force for success that upon administration. 

High civil officers have been openly hostile. An educated loyal man in civil office 
informed me that he was not a liberty to vote nor to attend meetings in favor of the 
Constitution. It was reported, and by many believed, that every man who registered 
and voted would be drafted for military service. It was said that the State would not 
be recognized. There was no real contest at the polls to draw men out. Opponents 
thought to discredit the Constitution by absenting themselves from the polls, and the 
men who should have opposed the measures here, falsified the facts by misrepresenta- 
tions to the people of the North. Several of the parishes were threatened with 
invasion by the enemy. The last election occured in the usual month of fever, when 
many were absent. Such causes diminished in a material degree the aggregate vote. 
Men are proverbially timid and irresolute amid revolutions, and the organization of 
government here called for more than ordinary courage, devotion and loyalty. But 
the number is more than equal half the largest vote ever given in the same parishes ; 
it is two-thirds of the ordinary vote in ten years past ; and the register numbers more 
than three-quarters the greatest vote ever polled in the most excited elections ever 
held. It is an intelligent and honest vote ! The more it i- investigated the brighter 
it will appear. The Constitution created is an honor to the age in which it is given 
to the world. 

No "generals, provost marshals, or camp followers," have ever been "chief 
actors" in any election, or "assisted by a handful of citizens," or "urged on by private 
letters from the President," have participed in these elections I 

At every election precinct, loyal citizens, sworn to perform their duties according 



9 

to the laws of the State, have been appointed to preside at elections by eivil officers, 
never by officers of the army. No State has so carefully guarded the law by which 
elections are governod. 

No provost marshal has been authorized to take any part in an election, except 
where commissioners, properly appointed, have failed by accident to discharge their 
duties. No general or other officer, has done more in any election, than to return to 
my headquarters, for transmission to the President, the list of soldiers claiming the 
right to vote as citizens of this State. No election has ever been held less influenced 
by improper authority, civil or military, or less vitiated by fraud, than the elections of 
this year in Louisiana. If the Constitution, the Senators, and Representatives, be 
received by Congress, that august body will never know a more honest and just re- 
presentation of the people of aloyal State ! 

In connection with the fact which I affirm, that more than one half of the entire 
voting population of the State within and beyond the lines, are registered, loyal voters 
qualified upon the "iron-clad" oath to participate in elections, it is my duty to say that 
the apportionment of political power in the election of delegates, and in the proceedings 
of the Constitutional Convention, manifests a still higher and nobler regard for the 
rights of the people. Instead of assuming as its basis the white male population of the 
present day, deducting the losses sustained by the slaughter and exile of nearly four 
years sanguinary war, as required by the bill recently approved by Congress, the people 
accepted as a basis of representation the population of I8G0, numbering 708,000, instead 
of 451,000. They assumed that every election district was invested with the right to vote? 
was duly represented, and provided by the rules of the Convention, that every proposi- 
tion, of whatever character, affecting the privileges of members or the rights of the 
people, should receive a majority of all the votes that would be cast if the entire popu 
lation of 1860 were represented in tJiat Convention. It declared that a quorum for the 
transaction of business should be an actual majority of all the delegates from every elec- 
tion precinct in the State, assuming that every soul and every district was represented 
according to the population of 18C0. This rule was made when the opinions of members 
of the Convention, on any subject, were unknown. 

Two-thirds of the white population, and two-thirds of the entire voting popula- 
tion of the State were permanently represented in the Convention. 

Neither constitutional nor parliamentary history presents a parallel instance of mag- 
iva.nimous abnegation of power or of exalted respect for minorities I 

And what was the result of their labors ? 

In a State which held 331,726 slaves, one-half of its entire population in 1860, 
more than three-quarters of whom had been specially excepted from the operation of the 
Proclamation of Emancipation, and were still held de jure in bondage, the Convention 
declared by a majority of all the votes to which the State would have been entitled if 
every delegate had been present from every district in the State : 

/»MfantaneoM«, universal, uncompensated, vnconditional emancipation of slaves ! 

It prohibited forever the recognition of property in man ! 

ft decreed the education of all children, without distinction of race or color ! 

It direet* all men, white or black, to be enrolled a* soldiers for the jiiihlie defence .' 

ft makes all m^n equal before the law ! 

It compels, by its regeneratinf/ spirit, the ultimate recognition of all the rights which 
National authority can confer upon an oppressed rae^ ! 

It wisely reeongnixes Jor the first time in constitutional history the interests of daily 
labor a« owi element of power entitled t» the protection of the State ! 



10 

It bat been latijied bi/ the People ! 

"SycH IS THB Free Cohstitutiom ai»d Qovkbnmbnt of Lokmiana?" 

It has been said that the men of the Convention were unknown, unlettered men, 
unaccustomed to legislative for and deficient in Parliamentary'oourtesies. It is not 
impossible. But they add other names to the record of men whose achievements were 
more than commensurate with their opportunities. They are types of the "fiery souls 
that make low names honorable." 

It ha« supprised me over much that Mr. Davis should be aJarmed by the possible 
influence of military officers in Louisiana. He cannot have forgotten the course of 
events in Maryland — the arrest and imprisonment of the chief of police and of the 
police commissioners : the substitution of an honorable army officer, Col. Kenly, in 
place of these officers, and his appointment of five hundred policemen instead of the 
armed and desperate men who controlled the city and State. He cannot have forgot- 
ten the arrest and imprisonment of members of the Legislature at Baltimore, nor the 
forcible dispersion of the two Houses, and subsequent arrest |and imprisonment of 
disloyal officers and members of the city of Frederick, by troops sent there for that 
purpose. He cannot shut his eyes to the effect that such events have had upon the 
politics of the State, or the color they have given to its present opinions, or that the 
representatives of the people now in office, in whatever capacity, owe, in an eminent 
degree, their commissions to the pregnant influence of these events! Yet the State of 
Maryland had not seceded. The people were undoubtedly loyal, as subsequent history 
has proven. Members of the Legislature disavowed intention of secession. Every 
officer in the State was the elect of the electors. On the record, at least, they did not 
seem to be in serious danger from indictment or trial. The fidelity of the Governor 
was heroism itself. The war does not exhibit a nobler spirit than that manifested by 
Governor Ilieks ! And yet — with exception of the Governor — these men were .swept 
'•with barefaced power" from the public sight ! 

The part I bore in these transactions, forbids me to question their expediency. I 
accepted the service, and I justified the act. There was never a more necessary duty 
performed by any officer of any government. Mr. Davis was not without information 
of some of these events. That I know. Neither did he hesitate to approve the avowed 
principles upon which they were conducted. Why, then, should the President be con- 
demned in Louisiana, and not in Maryland? Or is he to be condemned both in Louis- 
iana and Maryland? Pardon me! Nothing has occurred in Louisiana that brings 
the affairs of Maryland withjn the" range of comparison ! The President found here 
no State officers in power. AVholesale arrests of public officers have not been made. 
Private individuals, chiefly, felt the power of the (iovernment. The full front of his 
officials acts, .shows only that he has offered to the whole population, upon conditions 
.satisfactory to them and which will'answer all the demands that (he eivili/.ed world 
can make, an opportunity to establish a government of their own, in harmony with the 
spirit of the age, offering indemnity for the past and perfect security for the future. 

The restoration oi Louisiana to the Union upon such a basis is an event not 
.second to any that has occurred in this war. It will lift more and weightier doubts 
Irom enlightened minds at home and .abroad than any single success in arms. The 
chances of war are proverbial, the results of administration certain. No reasonable 
doubt of the military superiority of the Ignited States over the rebels ever existed. 
The final result was never doubted But how rebel States are to return is a problem 
that has oppressed tlic minds of men with a weight as universal and insoluble as the 



11 

&tmo£pbere. The satisfactory restoration of one State will settle more and weightier 
doubts than the naked fall of Atlanta and Richmond together ! 

See what the President has done in Maryland ! Mark what be has accomplished 
ia Louisiana I Mou^rat vlam. She lights the way I 

The criticism upon the appointment of Gov. llahn, which is said to make him 
dictator of Louisiana, is unworthy the care apparently bestowed upon it. Gov. Habn 
was designated by^the people at a formal free election, after an animated canvass, as 
the man they wished for Governor. The President then designated him as the military 
Governor. This appointment does not enlarge, but diminishes bis power. It makes 
him subordinate to superior military authority. 

A military Governor is invested with authority to perform civil duties. In th« 
absence of such appointment by the President, it could be made by the commander 
of a division or department. Inasmuch as the office is not created by law, but 
results from established military usage, as in the case of a military or provost judge, 
the confirmation by the Senate is not indispensable. It is the order of the commander. 
IB-chief .acting in a military capacity, and therefore the "counter-signature of tbe 
SiMretary of State" is unnecessary and in.appropriate. 

It is unjust to charge upon the President alone a desire for the early organization 
©f a. State Government in Louisiana. Before any step was taken by me in this deree- 
tioH, I caused a full statement of my purpose and my plan to be laid before Mr. Chase, 
then Secretary of the Treasury, exactly as they were afterwards executed, and received 
from him an unqualified approval both of the objects and the measures, accompanied 
by an earnest wish that the experiment might be made without delay, net even waiting 
a formal approval by the President ! 

The statement embodied in the manifesto, upon the authority of some gentleman 
here, that an ofRcer of my staff had reported the opinion of a senator, that^tbe bill would 
I'all between the Houses, or fail to reach the President in time for his signature, is with- 
out substantial foundation. No officer, or other person connected with me, officially or 
personally, has been in correspondence with any person in AVasbington, or received in- 
formation, direct or indirect, upon this subject. Notwithstanding the high respect en- 
tertained for the decisions of all branches of the Government, this subject had never 
excited general interest here, because it was believed that Congress would establish no 
conditions with which the State would not gladly comply. 

Louisiana can as well defend herself as any of tbe Middle or Atlantic States, or 
the broder States of tbe North or West. Not one of them is secure against the assaults of 
a public enemy without the assistance of her sister States. Louisiana is no more 
"a shadow ;" no more "tlie creature" of executive will ; no more "dependent upon the 
army of the United States," than the first and best or all of these States. 

Congress has never formally declared, as stated, that the Government of Louisiana 
"shall not be recognized ;" nor have "her Senators or Representatives )^en repelled 
fey formal vote." Neither Government, Senators nor Representatives have yet asked of 
Congress recognition or admission. 

It is said "Gen. Banks candidly declared that the fundamental l.tw of the State 
was martial law " This is not a full nor an exact citation. Though it may answer 
4he purpose intended, it does not furnish a sound basis for legislation. 

The declaration in my proclamation was this : "Martial law is the fundamental 
Saw of the State. It is competent and just for the Government to surrender to the 
y>eople at the earliest possible moment so much of military power as may be consistent 
■ii-ith the success of military operation : to prepare the way by prompt and wise 



12 

measures, for the full restoration of the State to the Union and its fiower to the people 
to restore thoir ancient and unsurpassed prosperity; to enlaige the scope of agricul- 
tural and commercial industry and to extend and confirm the dominion of rational 
liberty." 

The Government accompanied the , .declaration" cited, with the ''surrender" pro- 
posed. It wa3 acct^pted by the people. 

The Government did not control or assist them. It suffeved an election to take 
place. The 2)eople have not had the positive favor of public officers, civil or military. 
What has been done is to be credited to their good sense and their loyalty, acting under 
the permission of the Government! 

It is perhaps deeply to be "regretted that the beneficent provisions of the bill for 
civil administration of the laws of this State should have been annulled by the Presi- 
dent ■" "People will die and marry, and transfer property, and buy and sell," &c. 
"The President has deprived them of the protection of this law," it is said. But the 
disaster is not as great as the authors of the address imagine. Most of these necessary 
"things" will still be done in the old way. It is even doubtful to what extent the 
wisest legislation of Congress would improve Creole custom in such cases. 

That the office of military Governor has fallen upon Michael Hahn is cause of. 
gratitude rather than of sorrow. He belongs to the people of the State. Throughout 
the war ho ha^s steadly and stoutly adhered to the Government. He occupies a front 
seat among the opponents of slavery and the friends of free labor. Singleness of pur- 
pose and simplicity of manner open the beaten i)ath of friendship for him to all 
classes with magic power. He unites in himself the varied qualities of the cosmopolitan 
population of Louisiana. Americans, Creoles, Irishmen and Germans recognize in 
him a brother. To every race he speaks its mother tongue. Every officer of the army 
will tell you, that with strong political affinities and warm popular sympathies, and 
in position much dependent upon public favor, Governor Hahn never presented a 
claim nor Sksked a favor inconsistent with his honor or the interests of his country. 
They are patriots of whom this can be said. It was a fortunate day when the Presi- 
dent made him "Dictator of Louisiana." Better States might well seek 

' 'A despot of his kind ! 
Sucli clialns as his are sure to Ijind!" 

Accept assurances of my consideration. 

N. P. BANKS, 
Major General Commandiag. 



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